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China’s build-up of oil refining capacity is threatening the viability of other Asian refiners as the country is about to become the world’s largest refiner this year amid still depressed demand for fuels. Bloomberg reports that the refining capacity of the country has increased threefold over the last 20 years …

A second Russian pipelaying vessel is now headed for Danish waters to join the operation to lay the almost-complete Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, the pipeline development company said March 31. The Adakemik Cherskiy — which has dynamic positioning capabilities allowing for accelerated pipelaying — will …

Saudi Aramco rose the most in 10 months in Riyadh trading after the government allowed it to cut dividends and redirect the cash into new investments to fulfill the crown prince’s economic plans. It would relieve some of the pressure on the world’s biggest oil company, which had to cut …

Fires raging Pertamina’s Balongan Oil Refinery have been successfully extinguished at 14:35 local time today, March 31. Agus Suprijanto, the state-owned oil firm’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications and Relations, confirmed in a written statement. Agus said that it was due to the offensive firefighting method applied intensively by …

Kuwait’s Oil Minister Oil Mohammad Abdulatif Al-Fares expressed “cautious optimism” on Wednesday that the global oil demand will improve as COVID-19 vaccination programs gather pace and industrial output recovers. Speaking ahead of a joint meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other major oil producers, he said the …

Schlumberger and Microsoft announced an expanded strategic partnership on March 29 to accelerate new technologies for the energy industry. The first offering, the Schlumberger Enterprise Data Management Solution for the OSDU Data Platform—a new industry standard for energy data—is available today. Energy companies will now benefit from an OSDU-compliant solution, …

Ahmed al-Ebadi, a spokesman for Iraqi Ministry of Energy, said on Tuesday that his country is looking forward to receiving more gas from Iran. Al-Ebadi told Iraq’s NAS News that Iraq’s debt to Iran is ready to be delivered to Iran. Iran claims that Iraq’s debt to the country for …

Qatar Petroleum has decided to take over full ownership of the Qatargas Liquefied Natural Gas Company (QG1) on 1 January 2022. The company noted on Tuesday it will not be renewing the QG1 joint venture upon the expiry of the relevant agreements on 31 December 2021. Established in 1984, QG1 …

Saudi Arabia has not yet decided its position on OPEC+ oil production quotas, a Saudi Arabian source told S&P Global Platts on March 30, two days ahead of the bloc’s meeting to decide on May output levels. The source denied a report that the kingdom was prepared to support extending …

Iraq’s Ministry of Oil has signs an agreement of principles with the French company Total for four major energy projects in the country: 1. Plants to collect and refine associated natural gas at the fields of Artawi [Ratawi], West Qurna 2, Majnoon, Tuba [Subba] and Lahais [Luhais]. This will include …